


So you could see the sky once, could you?

by anonymouslentils



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Climate Change, Dystopia, End of the World, Family, Future, Global Warming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:20:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24207349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anonymouslentils/pseuds/anonymouslentils
Summary: I read an article related to climate change and it gave me a reminder of how grim our future could become. This is that feeling put into writing.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	So you could see the sky once, could you?

Kaj looked out from his balcony. The distant storm was ravaging the few people caught in its path. The winds picked up and slowed down at random, bringing about with it bouts of heat and occasionally cold air. His coat protected him from the acidic rain. The floorboards he stood on were littered with garbage that storms had picked up. This was common, where Kaj lived.

"Son, come inside!" Kaj's mother called. "You'll get hit with debris if you stay out there!"

Kaj closed the door on his way inside. Rather than risking a heavy piece of waste come crashing through a glass window, a firm, metallic door was installed on the balcony.

"Kaj, did you finish your schoolwork?" Kaj's father asked.

"I did, Dad. It wasn't as hard as the math work you gave me," Kaj responded.

Kaj took the papers with his work on it and handed them to his dad so he could check it over. He could hear the cries from the wind, even inside his home.

"Dad, why do we have a balcony if we can rarely ever use it?" Kaj asked.

"This place was built before the storms like the one today were common. That's why we got the new door installed on the balcony," Kaj's father answered.

"Also, why do you call it _school_ work if I don't go to school?" Kaj asked. "I don't even think we have a running school in the city."

"It's a remnant from before climate change, Kaj." His father replied. "We have many things that are remnants from that era."

"Like what?" Kaj asked.

Kaj's father pointed at the kitchen sink. "You know the water that comes from the tap?"

"Yeah. We use it to clean stuff."

"Not only did it used to be consistently available, but it was once drinkable here." Kaj's father said.

"Really?" Kaj was surprised. "Like when you were a boy?"

Kaj's father smiled. "Oh no, more like when your _grandfather_ was a boy. We haven't had good, consistent water for _decades_ now." He tried to make light from the situation.

"So you mean that you used to be able to go outside almost whenever, and drink water from the tap?" Kaj asked.

"Yes, not when I was young, but yes." Kaj's father asked.

"Tell me more about the past." Kaj requested.

"Your mom probably remembers more stories from her parents than I do. The grass outside our home used to be green once. The whole field used to be lush, and full, and it didn't constantly have garbage on it. From what I've heard, the world used to be amazing."

Kaj's mother walked into the room with food. "You guys are discussing of stuff from the past? You know, you used to be able to see the _stars_ at night."

Kaj pondered. Quite a bit more solemnly than before, he asked "Why can't you do that now?"

Kaj's mother and father looked at each other. "Climate change, son. And everything that came with it." Kaj's mother put down her utensils, preparing to tell a long story.

"Way, _way_ back when, before the new millennium started, there was the industrial revolution. It began around the year 1900, and it made it so that technology advanced _really_ quickly." Kaj's mother explained.

"Before that, we didn't have electricity, we didn't know a lot about science, and we still had horses to get around." Kaj's father added in.

Kaj listened with fascination. It intrigued him to no end to learn about the past. He loved learning about the world and the people that came before him.

"Because of the industrial revolution, people invented things like cars and factories, which made life easier for people, but it also polluted the environment a lot." Kaj's mother skipped over a few details. Maybe one day she would recount everything she knew, but today was not that day. It would be better to do it with Kaj's grandparents. They would be able to explain it better.

Kaj interrupted. "What's pollution?"

"Pollution is when you make the places dirtier with man made things. Like the garbage on the streets, or oil in the rivers. It's the reason why you can't drink out of the tap. The water is polluted, and it's not filtered properly." Kaj's father explained. "This city used to be clean. There was once a time when you could walk among the streets without having to avoid the endless piles of trash."

"It's harder to explain without having known a world that was once clean," Kaj's mother said. "As I was saying, cars and factories caused a lot of pollution. Apart from just making the land and water dirty, they also made the air dirty."

"That's why you can't see the stars anymore. There's too much stuff in the air." Kaj's father said. "On good days you might be able to spot one, but those days come quite rarely."

"Cars and factories released carbon dioxide, you know, the thing that you breathe out. But unlike people, they released ridiculous amounts of it." Kaj's mother went on. "This started building up in the atmosphere, which made it thicker, so a lot of sunlight was getting trapped inside the atmosphere."

Kaj's mother stopped. "You still following?" She asked. Kaj nodded.

"So with more heat being trapped in, the weather and temperature started to change. Overall, the planet was becoming warmer, and weather was becoming more extreme." Kaj's mother said. "People didn't really start noticing the effects of pollution up until around the... 2000's?" Kaj's mother was unsure about that statement. She hadn't even been born when climate change was still reversible.

"Anyway, scientists started noticing the effects that this would have on the planet." Kaj's mother explained.

"There used to be ice on the North and South pole." Kaj's father explained. It had a _lot_ of water just frozen there. Animals lived there even. Not just rats and bugs, but majestic animals. Like a bear, and even birds!"

Kaj had seen a bird only once. It was gray, just like the landscape.

"The extra heat would have caused the ice to melt, which made it so that sea level would go up a lot." Kaj's mother explained. "You see that map of the world there? The one which my parents gave me." Kaj's mother pointed at a pinned up map of the world. The date on it was 2078.

"There used to be more land on the planet." She stated. "A lot of it was covered by the ice that melted."

"Places were destroyed by rising sea levels, extreme weather, pollution, and the people running away from these disasters." Kaj's mother explained.

"There are many places on the planet where people used to live around a hundred years ago, but where people can't anymore." Kaj's father said.

Kaj's mother pulled out an old map. The date on it was scratched, but it was from some time before 2000. "This is what the world used to look like. The map belonged to my grandparents, your great grandparents."

Kaj examined the old map closely. There were so many more names on the map. There were places that were just ocean on a modern map. Places that did exist now looked different. Borders were, too, differing from the two maps.

"After scientists realised that the changing climates were irreversible, some people went crazy. They stopped caring about the already sealed future of the planet." Kaj's father explained. "Right now, there are about 100 years or so left of this planet being technically habitable. Estimates vary."

Kaj looked puzzled. "If people knew that pollution was going to destroy the planet, why didn't they stop?" he asked.

Kaj's parents looked at each other. "We... don't know," Kaj's father answered. "It doesn't make sense why they didn't stop."

"Our best guess is that people didn't care about what would happen to a planet that they wouldn't be alive on for much longer." Kaj's mother answered. "We weren't born yet when this happened."

"Tell ya' what," Kaj's father started. "When it's safe, we can go visit your grandparents and ask them."

Kaj smiled. He would be able to ask them later.

The storm outside had died down. It was still windy, but it was always.

"Hey, the storm's calmed. You wanna go back out on the balcony?" Kaj's father suggested.

Kaj put on his tattered shoes and stepped outside. He took a look out on the landscape before him.

The broken and burnt buildings were empty, and littered with graffiti. Windows were shattered, and there were pools of toxic water littered about. The soil below was dry; there remained chunks of dying grass. Before, this view was common, normal, even.

Now, Kaj could only see failure. Failure to preserve the very world one lives on. To give to the future generations the same chance your own had.

"So you could see the sky once, could you?"


End file.
